BNP for transparent war crimes trial

BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir reiterated on Wednesday that his party also wants trial of war criminals if it is held in a transparent manner.

“There should not be any controversy in the trial process,” Mirza Fakhrul said when he went to pay tribute to the martyred intellectuals along with party Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

His comments came 11 days after a written statement from the main opposition demanded the government immediately stop the proceedings of the war crimes tribunal.

"BNP believes that according to the existing legal structure, the tribunal is nothing but a servile, rubber-stamp organisation,” the December 3 statement read.

However, through a press release on December 5, the BNP said the line from the earlier statement read out by former law minister Moudud Ahmed at a press conference at the party's Naya Paltan headquarters was misprinted in the copies handed out to the media.

"Moudud Ahmed had in fact said, 'BNP believes that under the existing legal structure, the people do not consider the tribunal as a neutral institution'," said the press release.